Fighting the Winter Blues

The winter months can be a bit of a drag for classroom teachers, and morale can really start to drop this time of year (for teachers and students). This is the perfect time of year to amp up your SEL practices and foster those student-teacher and staff relationships. Who doesn’t love a little fun in the midst of winter gloom? Building community in our classrooms is so important when we think about student buy-in, but that community also extends to the faculty and staff of the school as a whole. If you’ve been looking for an idea to brighten up your classroom and build a positive school culture, these SEL Warm Fuzzies have just what you need!

Step One: Get Your Materials Ready

This activity is SO simple and requires very little to set up, and you can easily adapt the set up to meet your needs. That being said, the first thing you need is a bag for each participant. Brown paper bags work great, but if you have something similar go ahead and use those! Students will be able to decorate their bags and add a personal touch.

Once you have the bags, decide on a place for these to “live”. A bulletin board works great! You’ll staple the bags there for all to see and leave them up as long as you like.

The next step is to ready your Warm Fuzzy slips. We have some templates ready to go! Just click here and print!

DOWNLOAD WARM FUZZIES HERE

Step Two: Prep Your Participants

Give students time to decorate their bags. We all know that some of our students will write their names on the bags and be done, but some may want to spend some time making their bags unique. You can set some time aside for this, let them decorate once they finish ongoing assignments, or let them take the bags home to decorate!

Next, give students the Warm Fuzzy slips, and let them begin to write their notes. Encourage students to write several notes to different classmates, and remind students that the purpose of this activity is to build community and spread some joy around. You could require each student to write a minimum amount of notes, or you could have students write a note for each of their classmates. This depends on you and the amount of time you want to spend on this activity.

It might be helpful to have some sentence starters for kids who feel stuck on what to write. And remember, the more specific the message the more meaningful the impact! Tell students to think about what stands out to them about their classmates. Maybe it’s the thoughtful discussion points someone always has, or it could be the kind gesture of always having a pencil for someone to borrow. The possibilities are endless!

Step Three: Spread the Warm Fuzzies Around!

Now it’s time to deliver the notes! You can do this all at once or over time. Either way, at the end of the process each student should walk away with an assortment of notes making them feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

A Bonus IDEA

This activity is so versatile and is something you can do multiple times throughout the year (just be sure to keep the bags 😉). You could also do this with your teacher team, your department, or your whole faculty! Hearing from our peers about the positive things they see in us is always uplifting, and don’t forget to make yourself a bag even if doing this with your students! You’d be surprised at how much those sweet words can make a difference.

If you’re looking for something to help with teacher morale, whether at the team, department, or even whole school level, this is a great activity for faculty and staff. Community is so important for our classrooms, but it’s also beneficial to build community with other teachers and staff.

IS SEL AN IMPORTANT FOCUS IN YOUR DEPARTMENT?

Then your next step it to check out my Essential Question Adventure Packs. Each pack is designed to support any classroom text that fits under the umbrella of each question — and it’s supported through an SEL focus. Here’s a peek at one of the latest packs: Why do relationships matter?